While I completely agree with your general point about judgement, I think those 2 very extreme examples don’t suit it particularily well. Embracing fancy technical solutions just for the sake of it like Jack does is in my opionion just as bad as completely denying innovation like Dianne does. A good portion of judgemental quality in my opinion is being aware of other technical options than those you already know and embracing them when you see fit. If you, for example, heard about this fancy new NoSQL db and, of course after getting more information on it than just the general buzz on the net, consider the risk of the project failing because of it minimal, I think it is perfectly fine to pour it into projects where it fits, evaluating and discussing what the takeaway is afterwards. You and your coworkers will learn a lot and maybe even choose to go down that path again nex...